Trip Report

New York - Chicago - Washington - New York

Early March 2002

by
Ellis Simon

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On February 1, 2002, Amtrak announced that it would seek to
discontinue all of its long-distance trains, except the Auto
Train, unless its government funding is substantially
increased. While it may be premature to write the U.S.
long-distance passenger train's obituary, this reporter
wanted to spend some quality time with the patient before it
would be too late. Accordingly, I made a quickie round trip
from New York to Chicago the first weekend of March, via the Three Rivers
westbound and Capitol Limited eastbound, with a connection
at Washington to the Northeast Corridor. My routing was
chosen to enable me to ride the length of the historic
Baltimore & Ohio mainline, and during my trip I experienced
the best and worst of what Amtrak offers: aboard both
trains.

The Three Rivers, which replaced the fabled Broadway Limited
on the New York-Chicago run, handles more freight than
passengers: our consist had 15 cars of mail and express, but
only five passenger cars with a peak load of 88 travelers.
The Amfleet II coach in which I rode was clean, comfortable
and half-full, enabling me to spread out over two seats. I
even managed several hours of shuteye west of Pittsburgh.
The crew was quite attentive, and the coach attendant who
placed cards over the ceiling light fixtures to help darken
the car warrants special mention for that deed. Even with
lengthy stops in Philadelphia and Harrisburg to add mail and
express cars, the train stayed on schedule, and even arrived
ahead of schedule at a few stops. And, despite a winter
storm that fouled Chicago, we managed to arrive 45 minutes
early.

The only drawback - a serious one - was the food service,
provided in a Horizon fleet dinette that doubles as a
smoking car. The limited dinner choices prompted a run to
the newsstand at Harrisburg for a bag of pretzels and bottle
of spring water that were supplemented by a veggie burger
bought on board. In the morning, fortunately, a stable of
continental breakfast items - bagels, muffins, Danish
pastries, yogurt and cereal - was available. But you had to
be up early to get some, because the car closes well over an
hour before arrival. Given this train's better-than-par
timekeeping (90% plus for January), I'm convinced that with
a dining car the Three Rivers could go from one of Amtrak's
worst to one of it's best and generate much higher ridership
as a result. Amtrak could even go back to calling it the
Broadway Limited again; a Broadway revival.

My return trip via Washington on Sunday's Capitol Limited
was a textbook case of Murphy's Law, however. Late trains
get later indeed. The train was spotted in Chicago Union
Station a half-hour past its scheduled departure time due to
equipment problems. As I was aware of the previous day's
storm-related problems and I needed to make a connection in
Washington to get home, my anxiety was heightened. We
departed one hour late, and timekeeping headed south from
there.

Just east of Hammond-Whiting, we stopped for more than a
half hour due to a frozen switch, and watched as the
eastbound Lake Shore Limited, with left Chicago after us,
sped by. For the next 300-odd miles, we played a game of
"hurry up and wait," due to congestion on Norfolk Southern's
Chicago Line and the need to let the Lake Shore handle its
business at the three stations en route - Elkhart, IN,
Bryan, OH, and Sandusky, OH - where it stopped but our train
didn't. By the time we reached Cleveland, we were 3:40
late. Fast running between there and Pittsburgh shaved 40
minutes off the delay. But, sluggish running over the CSX
(ex-B&O) mainline and a crew change at Hyndman, PA, that
consumed 20 minutes put our arrival in Washington four hours
behind schedule.

I had booked a standard bedroom in the sleeping car for the
return trip on the Capitol Limited and was glad I did. Not
only did I enjoy the privacy of my own room and the
amenities that come with the package - dining car meals, in-room
snacks and beverages, and a made-up bed waiting for me
on my return from dinner - but Chicago Union Station's
Metropolitan Lounge for first class passengers provided a
comfortable place to thaw out during my 10-hour layover in
the chilly Windy City. The only drawback was the bad luck
of being assigned to Bedroom 8, which was directly above one
of the trucks. The former New York Central Water Level
Route, now part of Norfolk Southern, is no longer level, and
I could not get a good night's sleep. A more seasoned
traveler recommended next time getting a room on the lower
level of the Superliner car because there is less sway down
below.

Even though the dining car did not open until almost 9 p.m.,
the meals served were very good. I had a tasty prime rib
for dinner with mashed potatoes and a nicely prepared medley
of mixed vegetables. The deep dish apple pie I had for
dessert was one of the best I ever tasted. Other than a
too-salty gravy on the potatoes, the meal was perfect. At
breakfast, the French toast and turkey sausage links were
also delicious, although the French toast could have been
warmer.

The Cap's best attraction has to be the scenery between
Pittsburgh and Washington. The route climbs toward the
summit of the Alleghenies at Sand Patch tunnel along the
banks of the Monongahela and one of its tributaries and then
follows the Potomac River for most of the way to Washington.
But the former B&O Washington-Pittsburgh line offers more
than beautiful scenery. It is the world's longest
industrial museum stretching nearly 300 miles. Along the
way, the train passes by abandoned steel mills and through
the towns where the employees who worked there lived. Also
to be seen are bridges and depots from the abandoned Western
Maryland Railway (now a recreation trail), the remains of
19th Century foundries and the railroad shops at
Martinsburg, WV, which date to the Civil War era. Line-side
structures, the soon-to-be-gone color light position signals
and the cast concrete portals bearing the names of the
tunnels through which the train passes give the line a
unique character that shouts "Baltimore & Ohio" in an era
marked by the blandness of contemporary railroading.

This rolling show, viewed from the floor-to-ceiling windows
of the Sightseer lounge, took some sting out of being so
late. And there were other benefits to compensate for the
delay. I was able to enjoy daylight running for the entire
trip east of Alliance, OH, getting to see several locations
normally passed in darkness. All passengers received
complimentary lunch in the dining car, affording me an extra
slice of that wonderful apple pie. Finally, because of the
lateness, I was permitted to complete my return to New York
on the 6 p.m. Acela Express, which provided a speedy
contrast to the plodding Capitol Limited, at no extra cost.
I arrived back in the Big Apple a few minutes before 9 p.m.
(two minutes late), exhausted but thankful for the quality
time spent.

I also came away with a different perspective on long-distance
trains. Some in Washington have misdiagnosed them
as a being cancer to be removed from the passenger rail
system in order to save it. In truth, they, along with the
rest of Amtrak, suffer from malnutrition - a lack of
necessary financial, material and intellectual resources
needed to succeed. They are not a plaything for WOOFs
(well-off old folks) or railroad buffs like me. Instead,
they provide a vital public service to the people who ride
them because other modes do not serve their needs well.

So the next time Congress holds a hearing on Amtrak's
future, perhaps they should invite to testify some of the
Amish people who travel by train because their faith
prevents them from driving or flying, or the man I met
accompanying his disabled son to Washington so he could
participate in a conference, or the woman traveling to
Florida by train because her diminished lung capacity
prevents her from flying or the blind couple traveling in the
handicapped compartment of my sleeping car who stepped off
briefly at Pittsburgh to exercise their seeing-eye dogs.
Amtrak has 23 million stories like these. Somebody needs
to hear them.